The No. 19 NC State baseball team dropped its midweek matchup 12-4 to No. 12 East Carolina on Tuesday night at Doak Field at Dail Park.
East Carolina (21-6) snapped its eight-game losing streak to NC State (18-8) in Raleigh, notching its first win at Doak Field since 2009. The Wolfpack left 10 runners on base in Tuesday's setback.
ECU struck first with two runs in the top of the second. Dixon Williams' two-out, two-RBI single helped the Pirates build an early 2-0 advantage.
The Pirates doubled their lead with two runs in the third. Ryan McCrystal's sacrifice bunt brought home Carter Cunningham from third to make it 3-0 before a fielding error with two outs allowed Jacob Starling to extend ECU's lead to 4-0.
NC State loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, but the Wolfpack could not push its first run across as ECU shortstop Joey Berini snared
Brandon Butterworth's line drive to leave three runners stranded.
Josh Hogue walked to open the inning before
Eli Serrano III singled and
Luke Nixon was hit by a pitch with two outs to put three runners on.
East Carolina again capitalized on a Wolfpack error, scoring all three runs in the sixth inning with two outs after a fielding error extended the frame. One pitch after Ryley Johnson reached via an error, Cunningham launched a two-run homer to right field to make it 7-0.
The Pirates added two more runs in the seventh to push the score to 9-0. The Wolfpack answered ECU's two-spot in the seventh with two runs in the bottom half to bring the score to 9-2. East Carolina scored three runs in the top of the eighth to push the score to 12-2.
Jacob Cozart's two-out, two-RBI single in the bottom of the ninth pushed the score to its final tally at 12-4.
Ryan Marohn (2-1) suffered the first loss of his college career after allowing three earned runs over 4.1 innings pitched. ECU's Danny Beal (3-1) earned the win after tossing 2.1 scoreless frames with two strikeouts.
UP NEXTNC State opens a season-long seven-game road stretch with an ACC series at Louisville. This weekend's series starts Friday at 6 p.m. and will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.
https://gopack.com/news/2024/4/2/baseball-19-wolfpack-falls-to-12-east-carolina-on-tuesday